Through the Storm

by Vanessa Miller

  The police officer Iona dealt with earlier was gone and a woman in her mid to late forties had taken his place. She didn’t wear a uniform and had a pleasant, helpful look on her tan face as she asked, “Can you give me your client’s name please?”

  “Isaac Walker.”

  The clerk stared at Iona dumbfounded then asked, “Pastor Walker?”

  “Yes.”

  “The man is a saint. He helped me turn my knucklehead son around from the drug dealing life he was leading. Why Pastor Walker even helped my Tommy find a job. A saint I tell you; a saint.”

  “Yes, we know. That’s why we’re going to get him off. But first I need to know what he’s been charged with.”

  “Oh yeah, sorry,” she said while clicking a few keys. “Here it is.” The clerk gave Iona another dumbfounded, jaw dropping stare.

  Iona prodded. “The charges?”

  “First degree murder.”

  “How many counts?”

  “What do you mean how many counts? He murdered more than one person?”

  “Focus, okay,” Iona told the clerk. “How many counts?”

  “One.”

  “Thank you,” Iona said as she turned to walk out of the police station with Nina. But a traitor blocked her way. Johnny was standing at the entrance hugging Nina and earning his academy award for the best actor in a church drama.

  Iona heard him say, “I just can’t believe it. I absolutely can’t believe this.”

  “Why can’t you believe it, Johnny?” Iona said while walking toward them.

  Johnny released Nina and turned toward Iona. “How are you doing, Iona? I’ve been worrying about you ever since I heard.”

  “Why would you worry about me? You’ve been trying to make this happen for the past two years. I would think you’d be out celebrating.”

  Shaking his head, Johnny said, “No, Iona, you’ve got this wrong. I don’t want to hurt your father. I respect him too much.”

  Iona harrumphed. “Yeah, I know. You respect him so much that you want to see him in prison. Well don’t shout the victory yet, because he won’t be here for long.” Iona grabbed Nina’s arm and said, “Don’t talk to him, Nina. He’ll report everything you say to the district attorney.”

  Nina turned toward Johnny and asked, “What is she talking about? What’s going on with you two?”

  Iona pulled on Nina’s arm as she headed to the exit.

  “Wait!” Johnny commanded. “You can’t go out there.”

  “I can do just what I please and I’ll thank you to stay out of my family’s business,” Iona told him.

  “Reporters are out there, Iona. They’re lined up just waiting on you to come outside so they can pounce,” Johnny said.

  With that news Iona’s hands began to tremble as fear crept into her eyes. The irony of this situation was not missed on Iona. Her big dreams and her five year plan depended on her getting cases with media appeal. But not this case. She could no more exploit her father for her own gain than she could set herself on fire. She didn’t want to talk with reporters about Isaac Walker, didn’t want to greet them as she and Nina walked away, and didn’t even want to see how she looked on camera as she said, ‘No comment.’ Her voice was weak when she turned back to Johnny and pleaded, “Help us, Johnny. If Daddy ever meant anything to you, help us find another way out of this place.”

  “Follow me,” Johnny told them. Then he guided them through a maze of cubicles, down some stairs that led into the basement and a doorway to freedom. He pointed at the door in front of them. “Go out that way, walk up the steps and the parking garage is to your left. You can’t miss it.”

  “Okay, come on, Nina,” Iona said without thanking Johnny.

  Nina turned toward Johnny and said, “Thank you. I don’t know if I would have been able to deal with a bunch of reporters this morning.”

  “Why are you thanking him?” Iona asked indignantly. “He’s the reason we’re running from the reporters in the first place. I guarantee you he had something to do with this frame job.”

  “Iona, the man’s a cop. Do you honestly believe he’d kill all those people just to frame your father?” Nina asked.

  “I’m not trying to disrespect you, Nina-Mama. But you’re being naïve. Dirty cops are everywhere.” Iona grabbed Nina’s arm, ushering her toward the door as she’d done upstairs. “Now let’s get out of here before he kills us in this basement.”

  Johnny grabbed Iona’s arm. She let go of Nina and swung on him. He stepped back and said, “Girl, you nearly took my head off.”

  Iona positioned herself for a fight and said, “Yeah, and that was just a love tap. Step to me again and I’ll show you what hate feels like.”

  “I can explain everything, Iona, if you just give me a chance,” Johnny said while holding the left side of his head.

  “Yeah? How’s your father, Johnny?” Iona asked.

  Johnny’s face turned cold, he clamped his mouth shut and turned away from them.

  “Explain that, Johnny. Explain all your lies,” Iona yelled at him as he continued walking away. But before he could get out of her presence she gutted him with, “So is that why you were so sure that Vivian’s mom tricked her husband – because your mom did the same thing?”

  “Iona how can you be so cruel?” Nina demanded.

  Turning toward Nina, Iona said, “Johnny is not our friend, Nina. He’s been spying on us for the past two years trying to dig up some dirt on Daddy. Now I know how much you and Daddy think of Johnny, but it’s true. So don’t talk to him. Okay?”

  Nina closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for Johnny. Iona knew what she was doing. She used to do the same thing for her and Donavan when they were naughty children. It ticked Iona off that Nina would bother praying for a low-life like Johnny Dunford so she said, “Why don’t you just stop praying every ten seconds? Have you looked around at everything that has happened to us? Can’t you tell that praying doesn’t work?” Iona stormed off toward the door.

  Nina wasn’t about to let her get away that easy. She caught up with Iona just outside of the station, grabbed her arm and turned her around. “I don’t know how you lost your faith after living with us for so many years, but let me tell you something. Your father and I believe that God is up there,” Nina pointed to the sky. “Taking note of each and every one of our prayers. And just so you know, I’m pregnant. So, the way I see it, God not only heard that prayer, he answered it. He’s a miracle worker, Iona. And I’ll never stop praising His name.” And with that, Nina strutted off.

  Iona stood on the sidewalk with her mouth open, unable to move forward. She knew the tears Nina shed over not being able to conceive another child. She also knew the number of years that had gone by while Nina prayed and believed. Her mind drifted back to the day she walked into Cynda’s house and saw her arms lifted in praise to God. Iona heard the song as if she were standing next to her mother. You are great; You do miracles so great.

  ***

  The arraignment was set for two o’clock and Iona was a little worried. The one good thing about this whole episode was that her father wasn’t being charged with all three murders. That would have surely labeled him as a thrill or a serial killer, and there would have been no way that she would be able to get bail for him.

  The docket was alphabetical, so Iona and Nina sat through thirteen cases before Isaac Walker was called. JL Tyler stood at the prosecutors table looking smug and self-assured. Iona was going to wipe that smugness off his lopsided head when the truth came out. The judge was seated and Iona listened to JL request no bail for her father. She stood and said, “Judge Landon, my client is a well respected pastor with numerous ties to this community. My client is not a flight risk and therefore I cannot understand the DA’s need to hold my client in jail awaiting a trial that could be months away, while his congregation and his life’s work suffers needlessly.”

  “Point taken,” Judge Landon said as he turned back to JL. “Counselor, would the district attorney�
��s office have a problem with bail if it was set at three hundred thousand?”

  Isaac nudged Iona and she shooed him away with the flick of her hand.

  “Your Honor, I am currently working with the police to link Mr. Walker to two other murders. And we really don’t think-”

  “Have you been able to link him?” Judge Landon asked, cutting into JL’s pontificating.

  “We believe that we will be able to do that within the next few days,” JL answered.

  “So in other words; no,” Judge Landon said.

  A bit of the smugness left JL’s face as he admitted, “No, Judge, we haven’t linked him yet.”

  “Then I see no problem with setting the bail at three hundred thousand,” Judge Landon said.

  “Thank you, Judge,” Iona said. She almost wanted to wink at him. Iona had clerked for Judge Landon and had worked fourteen hour days, six days a week every summer for him. When Iona graduated, it was Judge Landon that recommended her to Smith, Winters & Barnes. As far as Judge Landon was concerned, Iona could do no wrong. But for the two years Iona had practiced law, she had never arraigned a case before him. Maybe there was something to all this praying stuff, because Iona felt sure that Nina had definitely prayed Judge Landon up.

  Iona looked toward heaven and silently prayed, Show me what to do, Lord. I need your help on this one.

  Isaac nudged her again and asked, “So what happens now?”

  “Nina and I will go to the bail bondsman and pay the ten percent. We should have you out of here soon.”

  His eyes lit up. “You mean I’m going to get out of here today?”

  Iona held up a hand to halt his excitement. “That’s only if we can get the bail and get back here in time enough for you to be released today.” She looked at her watch. “Honestly, Dad, I don’t see you getting out before tomorrow morning.”

  He patted her on the shoulder. “That’s fine, Baby Girl. You go take care of everything and get me out of here as soon as you can.”

  Iona stood and said, “I will, don’t worry.” She eyed Nina walking toward them and turned back to Isaac with a huge smile on her face. “Oh, and don’t you think you’re a little too old to be impregnating defenseless women?”

  Isaac smiled confidently and said, “You know how I do it.”

  Iona laughed. “Just don’t expect me to baby sit while the two of you have your hips and knees replaced.”

  Chapter 19

  Just as Iona predicted, Isaac wasn’t released until Friday morning. Nina ran to him and hugged her man. Iona stood back and watched them, wishing that she would one day find a love like theirs or even the love that her mother had found with Keith.

  Isaac and Nina walked toward her, arm in arm. Her father smiled at her and said, “Well, Baby Girl, your daddy’s a free man.”

  “And I intend to make sure you stay free,” Iona told him.

  He winked. “I knew I hired myself the best lawyer in this city.”

  Iona shook her head. “This city is too small. I’m the best lawyer in the world, Daddy. But that’s beside the point. When this is all over, I never want to represent you again. Okay?”

  “You got a deal.” He put his free arm around Iona’s shoulders and said, “Let’s go home.”

  “Wait, Daddy. We need to go out the back way. Reporters are lined up just waiting on you to come out of this place,” Iona told him.

  “I won’t hide from anyone, Baby Girl. I’m an innocent man. Let them prove otherwise.” He turned and walked out the door with his head held high.

  Iona had no Johnny Cochran and F. Lee Bailey delusions as she followed her father out the door. She wanted to protect her father, not exploit him. And it was at that moment that she faced the fact that she had lost her soul to her job. She became a lawyer to protect the innocent. But somehow she’d lost sight of that when the money started coming in. She stopped caring who was innocent and only cared if her client could foot the bill. Iona looked at the throng of reporters waiting on her father and she turned her attention to heaven. She promised God that if He would help her get her father out of this mess, she would become the type of lawyer her clients could count on.

  A blonde haired, blue eyed reporter Iona recognized from Channel 2 news put her microphone in Isaac’s face and asked, “Did you do it, Pastor? Did you kill that young man after he attended your service?”

  Another reporter, this one was a nappy-head with brown eyes and a Brooks Brothers suit on asked, “How do you think your congregation will feel after their pastor has been arrested for such a heinous crime?”

  Iona ushered him through the crowd screaming, “No comment! No comment!” as the stalkerazzi continued to pounce on her father.

  When one of the reporters/stalkers asked Isaac, “Why did you murder that young man, Pastor Walker?”

  Isaac stopped, turned toward the cameras and said, “I am not this monster you believe me to be. I love this city and the people in it. I have worked for decades to try and make it a better place for all of us. I could never harm Dwight or anyone else.”

  ***

  “Ah but you did harm someone else, and for that you will pay big, Isaac Walker,” JL said as he sat in his office watching the afternoon news. This was the reason he became a prosecutor; to bring one man to justice. When this was all over, JL thought he just might quit his lousy paying job and become a stock broker or a realtor. Maybe he’d flip a few houses and make some real money. Numbers had always been his thing. He’d never really cared about the weight of justice and all that bull, except when it came to Isaac Walker. That man had to pay, and JL would make sure he did. He picked up the phone and dialed his grandmother. When she answered he asked, “Did you see the news?”

  “Yes, I did son,” she replied.

  “It’s finally in motion, Big-Mama. He’s going to pay for what he did to us.”

  “I knew you would get something on him; just took a little patience.”

  JL hung up the phone and leaned back in his leather cushioned seat. He’d done it, he’d done it, he’d done it. The great Isaac Walker was finally where he wanted him. Well, not quite. If Isaac Walker were to keel over dead of a heart attack or if a family member of one of the murder victims were to plunge a knife in his gut, then he’d be exactly where JL wanted him – but he’d settle for life in prison.

  He laughed and the jovial sound echoed off the walls, just as Johnny burst through his office door. Startled, JL sprang up. Once he saw it was Johnny, he sat back down. “Hey, Johnny my boy, I was just about to treat myself to a celebratory lunch. Why don’t you join me?”

  Johnny ignored the lunch invitation and said, “You’ve got the wrong man.”

  “Really? Well then you’re talking to the wrong person. I didn’t arrest him. Detective Gordon at your very own precinct did that.”

  “You set him up. It wouldn’t surprise me if you had those people killed yourself, just so you could finally get him in court.”

  JL swiped his two index fingers against each other and made a tsk-tsk sound. “I wouldn’t go around accusing people of things you have no proof of, Detective. Besides, this is what you wanted all along. I would think you’d be dancing in the street.”

  Johnny took a deep breath as he ran his hand over the top of his head. “I wish I’d never listened to you in the first place. Pastor Walker is innocent. He is a respectable man who only wants to bring people to the Lord. You are the one that should be investigated.”

  “Aren’t we high and mighty today? As I remember it, you were more than eager to prove Isaac Walker was stealing from the church. You were just about salivating at the mouth when I approached you with my plan.”

  Johnny got in JL’s face. “I’m watching you. Do you hear me? If you did anything to bring about what’s happening to Pastor Walker, I will see you fry.”

  ***

  Isaac was at his computer in his home office reviewing emails when an email from an unfamiliar address popped up. He was just about to delete it, fearing that
it was spam, or worse yet, that a virus was attached to the email. It still amazed Isaac that human beings had so much free time on their hands that they would send out virus laden emails with the sole purpose of destroying other people’s property. His mouse clicker was on the X to delete when he read the subject: Forgive? Forgive?? Forgive????

  The email he received about Vinny had the same subject line. Isaac moved his cursor away from the delete button and clicked on the message. There was only one sentence and it read, “No forgiveness for thieves, Isaac. Remember that?” There it was. The killer wanted him to know that he’d done it again. Isaac was dumbfounded. All these years he hadn’t had an enemy, but now one was gunning for him and seemed particularly fixated with thieves and the concept of forgiveness.

  Isaac’s heart was heavy as he slumped into his bedroom and sat at the foot of his bed feeling discouraged and defeated. He hadn’t felt like this in all the years he’d had God in his life. But people were dying; and whether he had pulled the trigger or not, he was responsible. He had to do something to stop the killing, and the only thing Isaac could think to do was something that would destroy his very soul.

  His life had been about ministry, and he loved every minute of it. This was not a job to him; it was a calling. But how could he continue to seek out lost souls and try to win them to Christ if the very act was putting them in danger of being killed? What was that doctors’ creed? First do no harm. Aren’t pastors responsible to ensure no harm comes to the people they minister to?

  Nina walked into their bedroom with a basket of folded clothes and spotted her husband sitting on the bed. “Shouldn’t you be working on your sermon for Sunday?”

  Isaac shook his head.

  “You’ve already got it done?”

  He lowered his head as he confessed, “I’m not going to preach on Sunday. I’m going to ask Elder Unders to do the sermon.”

  “Why?”

  He had always been able to discuss anything with his wife, but looking at her right now, he couldn’t find the words to tell her all that was in his heart, so he simply said, “It’s all my fault, Nina.”